PAX Australia, the first international event for the community-focused Penny-Arcade Expo, will be opened by none other than Ron Gilbert, who will deliver the "storytime" keynote speech.

The acclaimed game designer known for classic adventure games such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and Day of the Tentacle, and more recently DeathSpank and The Cave.

PAX Australia will run from July 19 through 21, 2013, at the Melbourne Showgrounds. Three day passes, and Saturday admissions have already sold out, but there is still limited available on both the Friday and Sunday over on the official website.

Paradox Interactive has today unveiled pre-order details for upcoming strategy game March of the Eagles, offering a 10% discount and a copy of "Sengoku", Paradox Interactive's character driven grand strategy game on the official website.

Lead one of the great powers or any of the minor nations of Europe through the eventful years of the Napoleonic Wars. Research new ideas to improve your military skills, seize the objective provinces to establish your dominance, and take down anyone that stands in your way. "March of the Eagles" is also a cutthroat multiplayer game for players of all skill levels, as alliances shift to whoever has the advantage while always keeping an eye on the balance of power.

Paradox has also revealed several new screenshots showing off the quite in-depth map overlay that players will find themselves fighting on, which you can find a glimpse of below or the full set at our game page.

March of the Eagles will be digitally available on February 18th for PC. You can find the pre-order page at the official website here.

With three weeks to go until the freshly-rebooted Tomb Raider arrives in stores, Square Enix has released a new gameplay trailer offering an extended 11 minute look at gameplay from Lara Croft's new adventure.

The clip is narrated by Crystal Dynamics' Creative Direction Noah Hughes, who walks viewers through the Monastery Escape scenario from early in the game, demonstrating a variety of Lara's abilities and strategies in order to navigate the hostile environment on route to a scavenger shanty town.

Tomb Raider is due on March 5th 2013 for PC, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Watch the video below.

Activision has reportedly confirmed that the Wii U version of the upcoming The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct won't be receiving an Australian retail release. Based on early exploits of characters from the popular AMC television series, Survival Instinct is still due on Australian store shelves on March 20th for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Aussie Nintendo-centric publication Vooks noticed listings for the game on Wii U recently vanishing from popular retail sites EB Games and JB Hi-Fi, and claim to have received the following confirmation from Activision:

As with every game release, publishers decide which platforms to release based on customer demand. Unfortunately it wasn’t there for the Wii U sku on The Walking Dead.

That the Wii U version of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is still expected to ship alongside the other platforms in Europe and North America, raises a big question on the health of Nintendo's latest console in the Australian market.

The only games Activision has currently published on Wii U in Australia are Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Skylanders: Giants. An Australian release for 007 Legends on Wii U was similarly canned.

Continuing our run of unique, in-depth games features, AusGamers has for you today a look at the age old videogame boss battle, and his (or her) station in the modern videogame landscape.

Contributor Adam Redsell took to looking into this trope for us, to see if maybe this old hat has finally become a redundancy in gaming, or if, perhaps, he (or she) just needs an updated, new job description.

It's an interesting look into a classic addition to games, with modern up-to-date examples most people will be fully aware of. Definitely a must read for avid gamers.

Click here for the full feature.

Another day, another matinée - here are all the gaming-related videos that have crossed our desktops since the last screening:

• Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Japanese Gameplay Trailer
• Rise of the Triad "Redesigning a Classic World" Dev Diary #3 Trailer
• Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel "The Overkill Diaries #1" Trailer
• God of War: Ascension "From Ashes - Bringing Kratos to Life" Dev Diary Trailer
• God of War: Ascension "From Ashes - Building a Spartan Army" Dev Diary Trailer
• Capcom Arcade Cabinet Debut Trailer
• Battlefield 3: End Game "Dirt Bike Test" Gameplay Trailer
• Overgrowth "Alpha 197 Changes" Trailer
• Anna: Extended Edition Debut Trailer
• Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter "The Devoted Cleric Class" Trailer
• Dead Space 3 "Core Gameplay Features" Trailer
• Dead Space 3 "The Future Dead Space 3" Trailer
• Day One: Garry's Incident "Infection" Trailer
• Resident Evil 6 PC "Campaign" Gameplay Trailer
• Resident Evil 6 PC "Mercenaries - No Mercy" Gameplay Trailer
• Soul Sacrifice "The Music of Soul Sacrifice" Trailer

Stay tuned for the latest game videos as we get them online!

Crytek, the German-based developer of the Crysis games and CryEngine technology is looking to free-to-play business models for their future games, according to a recent interview with founder and CEO Cevat Yerli at Venturebeat (via GI.Biz):

"We decided five or six years ago that we want to marry the quality of triple-A games with the business model of free-to-play," Yerli told GamesBeat. "And at that time, we decided some other games, in some of our other studios, would head in this direction. But we kept pushing the quality bar higher on our console business, which is the main dominating business for the Western world, but we are observing, plainly - and we see this already with Warface - that the free-to-play market is on the rise. I think over the next two to three years, free-to-play is going to rival retail with quality games like Warface."

Crytek's current efforts are in the PC market, but Yerli said that the company is looking to bring the same ethic to consoles.

"We're looking at free-to-play as a force that drives our growth and world-domination plans," said Yerli. "So we have quite a few console titles in our pipeline that are [traditional retail games] while we investigate free-to-play on consoles. But our primary goal is to make triple-A free-to-play games for the world market and transition entirely to that."

Crytek has been testing the free-to-play waters with Warface, which has already found success in Eastern Europe, and plans to build on the GFace technology and license it to third parties for use in their own free-to-play titles.

"As a company, [we will] transition from a developer to a service company, and we're going to offer a platform, with G-Face, to any other [developer that needs it]," he said. "If we could launch our games on a platform that already exists today, and we could get the same results, then we wouldn't build our own platform. But we're convinced that our platform does some particularly new things that makes our games behave better. That's why we plan to offer this service to third parties."

"This doesn't mean our main business will be driven by our platform business. We are just going to open it up and see how it works. We are always going to be a games-first company. We will always have our own development because we are all about making games. We provide technology, but technology is not our main driver. We make technology to make great games," added Yerli.

Crytek's Crysis 3 is due to launch on February 22nd for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, under the traditional pay-once publishing model via Electronic Arts.

Zombie Studios unveiled their next game at the recent DICE Summit conference in Las Vegas to a select group of press, announcing Daylight --a title that although seemingly in contrast to Blacklight, reportedly has nothing to do with their previous game's sci-fi world. Rather, Daylight is a psychological horror game that PC Gamer describes as similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and draws from studio founder Jared Gerritzen's experience on the first two F.E.A.R. games, and Condemned: Criminal Origins (via: PC Gamer):

With no name and no memory of unceremoniously arriving at the asylum, players piece together the events of the past while seeking escape from the building’s tangled ruin. The procedural generation tech, Zombie claims, means no two playthroughs will be the same. The studio says each session lasts around half an hour, which suggests a need for multiple runs to figure out the full story.

“Different players will have a totally different experience,” Creative Director Jared Gerritzen says. “You’re essentially a rat in a cage, but the cage is an asylum and it’s scary as hell. You need to find your way out, and each time you do it it’s completely different.”

Instead of weapons, you’re given a cell phone that warns you when psycho phantoms are lurking nearby and acts as a compass and makeshift flashlight. It also occasionally becomes “possessed” to play snippets of expository video or show images. This is the true power of 4G LTE.

Daylight is being built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 tech for PC, and is eyeing a 2013 launch with a budget $20 price point on Steam.

The expected crowdfunding project for Dreamfall Chapters launched on Kickstarter over the weekend, and looks to be well on the way to raising the funding for the new adventure game sequel from series' creator Ragnar Tørnquist, the Funcom developer who stepped down from his role at the head of The Secret World to found the new studio Red Thread Games (Thanks Nerfy).

Dreamfall Chapters continues and concludes the gripping story of Zoë Castillo, the Dreamer.

Revisiting familiar locations and characters, and introducing new sights and sounds, new faces, new game mechanics, new thrills and challenges, Dreamfall Chapters takes the player on an emotional, exciting and challenging journey -- from a dystopian cyberpunk future, through the mysterious and dreamlike Storytime, to the magical landscapes of Arcadia.

We aim to recapture the heart and soul of The Longest Journey and to improve on the immersion and game mechanics of Dreamfall in order to bring you a fitting, satisfying and emotional conclusion to the Dreamer Cycle.

The project has a lofty goal of US$850,000, however, with $160K having been raised in the first five hours, and a total now exceeding $555K, it looks to be well on the way to success.

Stretch goals for the game have reportedly been planned internally, and will involve additional content, and characters, as well as more support platforms, and "a HUGE surprise for The Longest Journey fans".

Watch the pitch video below for more details, and head over to the Kickstarter Page if you feel like pledging.

Obsidian, developer of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 has an idea for a Star Wars game they desperately want to pitch to new Star Wars owner Disney, according to a report over on Rock Paper Shotgun.

"We pitched a between-Episode III and Episode IV game [to developer LucasArts]," Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart revealed. "Because we think that timeframe is super interesting. It's the fall of the Republic, the extermination of the Jedi, it's Obi-Wan going off and making sure Luke is OK. You have the Sith, but you have the extermination of all Force users except for very, very few. So it was an interesting time to set a game, and you know, Chris Avellone came up with a really cool story.

"We also latched onto it because it has elements people remember, but not the stories. It can just completely not involve [the films]. It can tease them, but nothing else."

Obsidian is currently finishing up work on South Park: The Stick of Truth which was picked up by Ubisoft in the unfortunate demise of THQ, that and waiting for things to settle post Disney's rather loud purchase of LucasFilm, was cause for pause on following through on the above pitch, according to Urquhart.

"It’s something we’re still hoping for, even with the Disney/Lucas stuff going on,” he continued. “It changes things a lot, but you know, we’re gonna push on it. I would say it’s within the top three pitches we’ve ever come up with. We really worked on it hard and distilled it down to these eight or 10 pages that really sold the story and characters. Then we sold it off to LucasArts and got a call back later that day. They were like, "this seems really cool. We want to talk to you guys, like, tomorrow about it”.

"We haven’t [talked with Disney]. We’re kind of waiting for the smoke to clear. But that’s one of my next big things to do. To kind of go over there and [get the ball rolling ]."

Developer id has unveiled the much-anticipated release of the official RAGE modding toolkit - the same tools used to create RAGE and its DLC, The Scorchers - via the Bethesda blog. The modding tools will be available later today on Steam free of charge and weighing in at a whopping 35GB+, which you will be able to find in the tools section of Steam.

Later today on Steam we will be releasing the official tool kit for RAGE – the same tools used to create RAGE and it’s DLC, The Scorchers. From the game’s world building tool, idStudio, to game maps and assets, the kit provides everything you need to get started with modding the first-ever idTech 5 title.

Interested? Before you start downloading the hefty 35+ GB file, the RAGE team has provided some documents to read. As described in the welcome document, these tools provided are complex and aimed towards “technically sophisticated and adventurous” modders.

For those interested, two documents have been released detailing all that is needed to get straight into modding. You can find these documents here and here.

EA has unveiled registrations for the second round of closed beta testing for their upcoming city-builder title SimCity (thanks Trauma). The new beta round will be running from February 16th 4PM GMT(February 17th 2AM AEST) to February 17th 4PM GMT (February 18th 2AM AEST) and will feature an enhanced beta experience compared to previous testing. You can sign up for beta access over here.

EA has also revealed a new trailer for SimCity, showing off the Limited Edition exclusive content Heroes and Villains. The limited DLC allows you to create organised crime in your city, but also the ability to upgrade your police force to a hero squad.

The Heroes and Villains set changes your gameplay by enabling you to create organised crime in your city and to upgrade your police squad to a superhero! Unlock a criminal mastermind by placing Dr. Vu's Evil Lair in your city. Get rich with high tech development, but then deal with the chaos that Dr. Vu's henchmen create in your city. Defend your city by unlock a supreme superhero. Place Maxis Man's Super Hero HQ and he will fight crime and protect your city.

Check out the trailer below for a glimpse at the action.

After just six months of Big Huge Games' financial disaster with Kingdoms of Amalur, the former members of the studio have once again struck bad luck with Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney announcing the closure of Impossible Studios, the re-branded Epic Baltimore studio.

When former members of Big Huge Games approached Epic last year, we saw the opportunity to help a great group of people while putting them to work on a project that needed a team. It was a bold initiative and the Impossible folks made a gallant effort, but ultimately it wasn’t working out for Epic.

In addition to providing Impossible Studios employees with 3 months of severance pay, we’ll be giving the team the opportunity to form a new company with the Impossible Studios name and the awesome Impossibear logo.

The closure of the studio is a tough one with the former members only just recovering from their previous troubles, however Sweeney also revealed that the upcoming Infinity Blade: Dungeons is now on hold as they figure out the future of the project. Hopefully those affected by the closure are able to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Ubisoft has revealed via their Facebook that a new Wii U exclusive demo for Rayman Legends is under-development, a decision that no doubt has been affected by the varying amount of criticism and praise for the recent multiple-platform announcement.

While the Wii U exclusive title was suppose to be out in just under three weeks, a decision was made yesterday by Ubisoft to delay the product until early september for "many Xbox & Playstation owners and Rayman fans who told us they really wanted to play Rayman Legends on their current system."

hanks for all your feedback regarding Rayman Legends in all of its forms. We have heard you and we will continue to listen. We understand your frustration and that you want to get your hands on the game.

We are working with the development team to provide you with a new, exclusive demo for the Wii U soon. Stay tuned for more.

No word on what exactly the demo will involve as currently there is already a demo on Nintendo eShop for the Wii U showing off the various duo screen features that the GamePad offers.

Rayman Legends will now be available in early September for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U.

EA's Origin digital service has revealed that a Mac client is now officially available after previous alpha client testing was on-going since September. The new Origin client seems to feature the same offerings as the PC - use of cloud for game saves, friend list, online community and of course the games.

EA has also confirmed that select PC titles that have compatible versions for Mac will be cross-platform play - if a user purchases a compatible game on the PC, it is available on the Mac free of charge. EA are also celebrating the launch of the Mac client with a Simtastic 13th Anniversary sale, however it looks like Australia misses out on that offer with no mention so far on either the store or the client.

For those interested, you can download the official client over here for both PC and Mac.

NetherRealm Studios has released two new trailers depicting their upcoming DC Comics themed fighter game Injustice: Gods Among Us, with a preview of the caped crusader Batman vs Bane and Joker's counterpart Harley Quinn vs the Wonder Woman.

The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Bane, Lex Luthor, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.

You can check out both trailers below for a glimpse at the quite brutal action from the four DC Comic stars, but you can also check out our recent hands-on preview to see what we think of the game so far.

Focus Home Interactive has unveiled their newest 2.5D action title in-development by Mighty Rocket Studio titled Obscure. Inspired by the teen and horror movie genres, Obscure will offer what looks to be a high adrenaline side-scroller complete with zombies.

layable alone and in cooperative mode, Obscure lets you play as one of four unlikely heroes; students, each with unique skills and abilities that develop throughout the adventure. Geared toward action and all-out brawling, Obscure's combat emphasizes combos, follow-up attacks, and score-multipliers! Survive against packs of monsters trying to skin you alive, discover new weapons, and complete objectives throughout a variety of huge, non-linear levels. Overshooting the scores will earn you experience points to level your character up, unlocking new weapons, skills, and other devastating abilities! At any time, you can even get back to some of earlier levels to try your new toys and beat your scores!

Obscure rises to an entirely different scale in multiplayer. In cooperative mode, up to four players (local and online) team up to survive. Split up to fill your objectives as fast as possible, or stay together in a cohesive team to increase your chances of survival!

You can check out what to expect in the gameplay trailer below as well as a few screenshots to boot.

Obscure will release on PC, PSN and Xbox Live in spring 2013.

According to recent comments on BioWare's official Mass Effect forums (via NeoGAF), the director of BioWare Montreal, Yanick Roy, has revealed that the studio doesn't want people calling their next title Mass Effect 4. Roy states that "thinking of the next Mass Effect game as Mass Effect 4 would imply a certain linearity, a straight evolution of the gameplay and story of the first three games."

While it isn't clear what kind of timeline or story the next Mass Effect title will be based on, Roy has confirmed that it won't necessarily be a straight prequel or sequel. The director also detailed that while it won't be based on the current storyline, the previous three games will be recognised but likely won't be the main focus. He also reassured players that what makes Mass Effect "is indead the alien races, the technology, the lore, history, etc. You can safely expect those in the next Mass Effect."

Currently no date has been set yet for the next Mass Effect title, however Roy did reveal that while a Mass Effect MMO isn't impossible, it is not the currently in-development title.

Ubisoft has teamed up with McFarlane Toys for an Assassin's Creed line of highly detailed collectable figures based on the popular franchise.

McFarlane Toys’ Assassin's Creed series 1 will consist of seven figures including the fan favourite characters of Connor and Haytham Kenway. Connor will come as two action figures – one in his Assassin’s Creed III traditional Assassins garb and the second, as Ratonhnhaké:ton in the upcoming “Tyranny of King George” storyline. Each figure will be sculpted in the hyper-detail the award-winning McFarlane is known for with collectors and fans.

There's no word in the press release on whether we'll see Ezio or Altair, or even Desmond, but given the toy line name is just Assassin's Creed and not numerated, it's a safe bet we'll see them at some point.

Moreover, the toys themselves will offer unique content for the Assassin's Creed games.

"We're always looking to raise the bar with our figures, and Ubisoft has been a great partner to help make that happen," said McFarlane Toys CEO and creator, Todd McFarlane. "These will be the first McFarlane Toys to include integration with the game itself. Our Assassin's Creed figures will include codes that unlock unique content in game – things like new weapons, clothing colours, or other customisation options. Features like this reward the hardcore fans who buy the figures, and give collectors some added value.”

The figures will be debuting in a couple of toys at the International Toy Fair, so stay tuned for a closer look then.

The game has yet to show up on the Australian Classification Board's online database, but it looks like the upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive sequel God of War: Ascension has earned the new R18+ rating from our local ratings body.

Kotaku is reporting on information from a retailer in Queensland, that has requested its staff remove all promotional materials for the game from their stores --necessitated by the tardy state government's inability to pass local legislation in time for the new classification, unlike every other state and territory in the Federation.

“As Queensland has not passed legislation for the R18 rating for games we must remove all reference to God of War Ascension immediately,” stated an internal message sent at one major retailer. “This includes all game slicks, posters, pamphlets, hand written signage, 2-way units and pre order signage.”

We would hope that the Queensland government would get their act together before God of War: Ascension's launch date of March 14th 2013, but if they don't, it will likely still be trivial for sunshine state residents to obtain the game from national online retailers.